A wild police chase in Auburn, after suspects fleeing a robbery scene rammed through a train crossing arm and nearly collided with a train.
This getaway driver is still on the run and Auburn police are sharing his photo, asking for the public’s help to identify him.
Police did arrest the robbery suspect, who was found trying to hide in a tree in a Pacific neighborhood.
The initial robbery happened on the afternoon of Feb. 9 at Costal Farm and Ranch in Auburn.
“We got a call from one of the employees saying, ‘Hey, the suspect just ran out the emergency exit door, they threatened me with a gun,” said Kolby Crossley with the Auburn Police Department.
He said the suspects sped off in a silver Cadillac sedan.
“At this point we’re not necessarily pursuing it,” Crossley said. He said officers in the area were notified, and that’s when an officer saw the suspect’s car speeding towards them at 15th Street Southwest and Perimeter Road.
“The train was coming, so they obviously stopped. But then here comes our suspect vehicle flying over the train tracks, hitting the crossing arms, and barely – and I mean barely missing the train,” Crossley said.
Investigators say it appears the suspect missed hitting the train by inches.
“It could’ve been an absolute disaster,” Crossley said.
That’s when Auburn police started chasing.
Court documents say the suspect reached speeds of 120 mph. Officers found the car about three miles away at an apartment complex in Pacific.
The two suspects – the robbery suspect and getaway driver – both ran away from the scene, according to police. Investigators shared surveillance images from the apartment complex of the driver who got away.
The passenger, who police say was the armed robbery suspect in the store, decided to hide in a tree.
Neighbor Kay Schley says she saw that suspect in her neighbor’s backyard.
“I looked out and I noticed he’s climbing the tree,” she said. Schley called 911 and says shortly after, a big police presence had him surrounded.
Investigators say even as SWAT and negotiators were there, the suspect “smoked several blue pills from foil,” according to court documents.
The homeowner, Steve Tanner, wasn’t home but says he watched the commotion unfold from surveillance cameras. On Friday, KIRO 7 crews and Tanner spotted apparent drug trash still on the lawn.
“He was definitely on something,” Tanner said. “It’s a very sharp, bristly tree – I wouldn’t want to climb that at all.”
After two hours, the suspect climbed down and police arrested him. Charging documents identify him as 30-year-old Adam Louis Haskins. Prosecutors say he has previous felony convictions of: “Theft 3 (2009); Residential Burglary (2009); Residential Burglary (2009); Robbery in the Second Degree, Theft 3, Theft 3 (2010); Assault in the Third Degree (2010); Pending Theft 1 (Pierce County 2021).”
He’s being held at the King County jail on $100,000 bond.